Project cars -> Project Fleet; 1995 Miata Log

Had a ton typed out, lost all of it - thanks Obama. Here's the newest beast - $100 Miata from DeadSkunk(Warren). Been sitting for 5 years, but really seems to be in good shape overall - minus some rocker panel rust. Perks are a true manual steering rack, RacingBeat Intake and Exhaust, and a top that's in good shape.

Plan is to replace the timing system - flush all fluids - borrow a battery from my BMW, and see if it'll crank/run.

I feel like this car has pushed me from having a few projects to having a fleet; I have my Courier, my 318TI, my 200k mile Expedition, a friend's new F-150 (While he's working out of country), and now this non-running Miata. My Fiance is a saint. 

I'm now at $47.56 in tow dolly cost, and a new timing belt/water pump plus cam/crank seals and a valve cover gasket. ~$105 total in new parts.

Won a set of FlyinMiata timing tools on eBay, winning bid plus shipping puts me at $53. 

Total spent: roughly $305.

Pictures:

Serious oil leak here on the front of the engine - here's a puddle of liquid on the timing cover..

How did I miss a $100 Miata?

In because I need a cheap Miata too! 

AngryCorvair said:

How did I miss a $100 Miata?

You can never stop looking for a cheap Miata!! 

Originally posted half-seriously in this thread, not expecting much to come of it. Warren emailed me, I told my fiance (who gave me all sorts of E36 M3, then told me if I didn't buy it she would), and now I have a $100 Miata that's half torn apart.

Got about 2 hours in this morning, went back out for ~30 minutes and got the fuel drained. Good news is it still looks and smells like fuel!

Lots of cleaning along the way so far - the only casualty so far is the PCV Valve, which I broke but was able to get a replacement for locally. FM tools should be delivered momentarily, and I will get back to pulling off the crank pulley and locking the timing in place so I can do the 2nd half of the work tomorrow when the rest of my new parts arrive from RockAuto. 

~3 more hours of work in: Oil drained, everything off the front of the engine, cam/crank seals removed.

So far everything still going fairly smoothly. Should be pretty well prepped to re-assemble everything when my seals come in tomorrow. I am wondering if the oil leak is from the front corner of the oil pan as the seals all looked to be in fairly good shape. The timing cover (Middle portion?) is torn up pretty good, but I'm going to put everything back together like this anyway. Worst case (and likely), i'll try to find a used one. The old timing belt and water pump both looked fairly clean, so they may have been newer - but they'll get replaced anyway.

Also looks like i've pinpointed where the fault in the AC System is: Radiator sprayed with goop where the condenser is probably broken. Otherwise, it's a very small radiator leak. We'll find out once it runs again.

Done for tonight. Goal for tomorrow will be to re-assemble the front end, re-fill with fluids, and turn the key for the first time.

In reply to classicJackets :

Good work, kid!

In reply to classicJackets :

FYI...the guy I got it from had the engine out and "rebuilt" it 10 years ago. That was new bearings and gaskets, I think. He drove it for 5 years after that and then parked it because of the leak 5 years ago. He thought the leak was likely the pan gasket. If the crank seal were the culprit I would think the timing belt and the inside of  the covers would be filthy. Good , quick progress on your part. Thumbs up!

In reply to DeadSkunk (Warren) :

That helps to know. I'll still plan to fire it up after timing gets done, but I may go ahead and order in oil pan gaskets. Oof.

FedEx didn't deliver parts today, so ended up just cleaning/degreasing after getting the water pump back on. Also, went to reinstall the airbag in the steering wheel and faced with these cut wires - anybody got a source for a replacement? Looks like its got a connection at the other end, so wouldn't need to do any splicing.

Probably another 4 hours today.

In reply to classicJackets :

If you pull the tape off and take a look I THINK (don't know for sure) that the wires weren't cut, but were de-pinned. Someone on here probably will know for sure. You might get lucky and just need the connector.

Got my replacement parts in today, made a push tonight - new seals are in and everything is back together. A few fresh gallons of fuel in the tank, new oil, and the battery from my BMW and I went to start her up! .... and got nothing. I looked everything over before remembering that there's a Clutch Safety switch - neither my Courier nor the BMW have/had one that works. 

Good news is it runs well, has good oil pressure, and doesn't appear to be dripping any oil off the front of the engine. Both headlights popped up right away and the wipers work too.

Bad news is that there is HELLA lifter noise. Only ran it for a minute because it was after 9pm, my neighbors houses are ~15 feet away, and it sounded god-awful. Honestly painful to hear.

Ugly news is that I forgot to tighten the 3 bolts holding on the water pump pulley and managed to lose 1 bolt, damage another, and tear up the belt. Oops. 

Spent $58 at the FLAPS for fluids, filter, and a PCV Valve. Probably another 3.5 hours today, making this 10.5-11 hours in so far for timing belt, general cleaning, and draining/replacing fuel. Not bad - just need to fix the water pump and figure out what the heck to do with the valve noise!

Took the Miata around the block today - feels surprising quick! Has a bit of a surging idle, the steering wheel isn't centered, and the tires don't feel very good - no surprise given 5 years of sitting and 8+ years old. I may try to clean the neutral safety switch and make sure the temp sensor for the ECU is plugged in all the way, as those 2 sensors seem to be common causes for idle issues. 

$17 on a new belt, $1 on new bolts for the WP pulley, and $92 spent on tag/title. 

$370 on the car so far + $100 in tools/transport. I do still need to spend the $120 for a battery that fits in the tie down, and I have some JY wheels/tires that I'm not counting until they go on. Nothing too sweet.

Did take the 1st drive to the store tonight - I drove there, lady CJ drove back. We both had fun driving, enjoyed the beater status, and climbed out the drivers door because passenger door is stuck shut :)

Bit of a good news, bad news today. Good news - new wheels/tires mounted, and I dig the look. The shimmy in the steering (mostly) went away as well. Old rear tires were from 2012, old fronts were from 2004(!!)

Bad news, definitely still a strong oil leak. Can smell it while driving, and it drips as soon as its parked. Accessory belt still looks clean/dry, but oil is definitely dripping off the oil pan and the A/C lines.

Before, After, and then oil pan pics below. Mirrors coming from the parts section here for $51 shipped, will be nice to have those!

In reply to classicJackets :

The passenger door was working , but the exterior latch would stick in the open position a bit. The whole mechansism probably needs lubrication.

Spent some time on the Miata today. It was a little loud and exhaust-ey recently, and I could see the ground through the torn outer shifter boot. both were ripped in half. I ordered in and replaced the lower rubber "gasket" as well as the upper. Much fresher now. 

I desperately need to re-seal the oil pan. It's still spraying around underhood like mad, to the point of dripping off the underside of the hood when I open it.

I also was looking around for the source of a little rattle from the back end - I think it's the exhaust. The center hanger looks to be missing, and the exhaust has enough wiggle to run into the rear bumper.

After ordering some more parts in I figured I owe an update on cost. Previous was at $370 for car, $100 for tools+ transport..

Shifter maintenance kit from above: $62

New battery (after $50 Advance Auto coupon): $90

Right Stuff gasket maker, big container: $28

FM Oil pan seals (Shipped): $39

FM Delrin Shift Knob (backordered, but cost+Shipping): $51

New window roller handles + pedal pads: $49.52

Pair of door mirrors, shipped: $52

JY Honda Wheels + Tires: $180

So.... All in, comes to about: $894 in the car, $128 in tools/transport. I am hoping to get the oil pan gasket knocked out this weekend or early next week, Michigan weather dependent. That should make this nicely reliable/ready to drive again, assuming that stops the leaking!

Next things it really needs is shocks.. they seem pretty blown at all 4 corners. Just need to decide what to get - planning to DD this and maybe AutoX if my fiance is game, so don't want to really drop it too low.

Beyond that, I need to add a hanger to the exhaust bracket, and find some factory sized speakers so I can take out what's in there and put on the new window rollers. A buddy of mine is taking some parts off another 95 locally, and mentioned he's pulling/pulled a supercharger off of it, so I've let him know to keep me in the loop when they go to sell. 

Got a few of my other new parts in; pedal pads, new shift knob (flyin Miata delrin), and window cranks. Shift knob looks too good for the shift boot and empty space under the radio. Also need to get some factory speakers and wiring to replace the junk that's in there right now.

No other work started yet.

I also got a pair of 205 tires so I can replace the 16 year old ones on the wheels that came with the car, and sell the Honda wheels

Engine came out today. Other than the exhaust manifold nuts to downpipe,nothing really fought me. It was 87 today so I'm exhausted, but it does look to me like the front pan seal is the culprit. The whole engine/Bay is disgusting with the stuff.

Forgot to mention that I did remove the AC Components as well.. There's a nice stain on the condenser that matches that on the radiator, not hard to tell where the system failed. 

I ordered an Oil Pump pickup tube gasket from the dealer today for a whopping $7.50, and that should be here later this week. That gives me too much time to deep clean the engine and engine bay before slapping everything back together. This puts me around $900 all in, and probably 20 hours. While the engine is out I'm trying to limit scope creep, but may replace any sensors/items that will be hard to reach later + the heater hoses I sacrificed when pulling the engine + the radiator hoses which are just old

Was able to get the oil pan (hopefully) sealed today. I noticed a lot of oil on the back of the engine, and it looked like the valve cover gasket was leaking bad. Strange, since I just replaced it, but okay. Upon closer inspection..

It appears part of the gasket was just missing. Weird. Luckily I still had the "original" from when I got the car so that went back in, with some new dabs of sealant. Pcv valve is new and the "vent" to intake manifold is free, so all I can guess is maybe I overtorqued the VC down last time? 

Also replaced the CAS O-ring because that area was oily, and this is as easy it will ever be. I degreased a few parts during the week, and with my new heater hoses in now I'm going to hope to drop the engine back into place today or tomorrow.

Engine is back in the car and mounted. Next time I'll pull the front bumper, it was a pain to try and get everything in. 2 friends stopped by, and between the 3 of us and clever use of a scissor jack we made it work, but it was several hours of work today

Got everything back together and filled with fluids tonight and went for a drive. Still very fun! There is definitely still a leak, on the drivers side. I'm hoping that the stack of washers I put on the oil pump mounting bolt /former compressor bolt is just too short and allowing oil to seep/spray out from there, and that I didnt screw up the oil pan making this whole process useless!!

Regardless, it was nice to take a top-down cruise on woodward at twilight with my fiance, and we're looking forward to many more.

Posters online seem to think the bolt should be ~45mm long.. I had mine 'spaced' to be 40mm. I removed a spacer to be at 45mm length, but it just wasn't going to get all the way tight - not enough threads in the block. I swapped over to a 40mm bolt that I had lying around, and sealed it with some RTV and tightened it back down. I will let it cure as much as possible (given it's in an oily bolt hole) and give it a go tomorrow around this time to see if that solves the problem. It does look like that is where the oil is coming from, and the bolt that came out was coated in oil all the way out.

Feeling some pain, definitely looks like it's still leaking. I let it run up to operating temp in the driveway. Went a short while watching it closely, no drips, moved cars and came back to what I would call a splatter. Looks like several drops of oil on the bottom of the pan waiting to drip, and 1 small drip path on the rack. E36 M3. May just drive it for a bit before thinking about pulling the engine again.. I do think some of this junk could have been from the fans, as I didn't do a great job of cleaning them when they were out and that's got to be the only thing that really changed when I stepped away for a few minutes.